I have to give myself permission to fail. To do that, I put myself into 'student' mode and try a new 'something' ...technique, tool, project sample, embellishment, surface design, method, whatever... for as long as it doesn't feel so frightenly new and foreign to my hands and eyes. My brain is the last to fall into place, but once my hands and eyes are on board, my brain pretty much has no choice but to go along for the ride. In other words, I stop overthinking it.
It can take as little as a few hours or much, much longer. I design my own quilts and often do a prototype in 'student' mode just to figure out how I need to make everything do what I want it to do in the final version. If I started with the idea that it had to be just right the first time, I'd never start...and never starting pretty much guarantees I'd never arrive where I want to go.
I don't get hung up on perfection, but I am majorly committed to excellence. There's no way I can deal with 'done is good enough'. By treating each new 'something' as primarily a learning experience, I give myself time to explore without the pressure to excell. As long as I'm gaining ground in some way, it's okay. Once I'm comfortable with it, the committment kicks back in and I'm all set.
I learn from everything I create, all of it. Even if I learn NEVER to do that again!
